Literary Lumination
Out of the Dust
by Karen Hess
I ask Ma
how,
after all this time,
Daddy still believes in rain.
“Well, it rains enough,” Ma says,
“now and again,
to keep a person hoping.
But even if it didn’t
your daddy would have to believe.
It’s coming on spring,
and he’s a farmer.”
Image found at http://www.wakeswcd.org/dustbowl.JPG
This section of text stood out to me while I was reading because it shows the desperation of farmers during the great depression. All they could do was hope for rain because their livelihood depended on it. For three years, Billie Jo's family suffered because there was not enough rain for crops to grow. This passage made me wonder how her father would feel knowing that he had the skills and abilities to grow crops and provide for his family, but without rain his skills were useless. The picture above really shows the effects of the lack of rain on farmers like Billie Jo's father. The soil is dried up and the farmer can't do anything with it except let it fall through his fingers. I am sure that this man must be hoping for rain just like Billie Jo's dad was in Out of the Dust.
Wordle
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2369291/Out_of_the_Dust
These words come from the reading in Out of the Dust. The biggest words are dust, death, and pain because at this point in the story things are looking really bad for Billie Jo. The dust is not going away and her mother and brother died. Billie Jo is feeling a lot of emotional and physical pain at this time in the story. I included the words piano, hope, and West because the piano is one thing that still brings Billie Jo happiness and there is a small amount of hope in the stories that she hears about the land in the West.
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt
Oklahoma
March 1935
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
I am sorry to be writing this letter to you because I know that you are a very busy and important woman, but I have a very important request. My name is Billie Jo and I am 14 years old. I am a long-legged, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl. Eight months ago there was a terrible accident and my hands were burned and my pregnant ma was horribly injured. She and my baby brother died. I named my baby brother Franklin after your husband. Now it is just my Daddy and I trying to make it by. I used to be good at piano, but now it hurts too bad to play. Please, if there is any way could you send something to ease the pain in my hands so that I can play piano again? Sometimes, I just sit at the piano and play songs in my head. If only I could play again, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. I have heard that you are a very compassionate woman and that you will help those in need. If you help me, I promise to play a concert for you whenever you want. Like I said, I used to be very good. Thank you. I will be waiting hopefully.
-Billie Jo
I Poem
I am Billie Jo
I am my father’s daughter
I hear him singing under his breath
I wonder if things will ever be the same again
I practice piano in my head because my hands hurt too much to play
I see dust everywhere
I just want to get away- out of the dust
I worry because my father won’t go to the doctor for the spots on his skin
I wish Doc could fix him and maybe do something about my hands
I was invited to play at graduation
I couldn’t play
I let them down
I didn’t cry
I am too stubborn
Double Entry Journal
Entry # 1
“California! California! California! To the Okies the word “California” was magical, describing a place where they could go to better their lives. It was said that thousands of workers were needed to harvest a hundred different crops- peaches, pears, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, apples, oranges- the list seemed endless. It was said that no one ever went hungry in California because lush orchards were everywhere and people just helped themselves to whatever fruits or vegetables they wanted. It was said that no one ever got sick out there, ever, and it was big news if anyone died in California before their 200th birthday!”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 11
It seems ridiculous that people would really believe that people could live to be 200 in California! I think this quote shows how desperate the people in the Dust Bowl felt. They were willing to believe anything because they needed something to hope for in order to keep them going. They needed to believe that they could survive and find work somewhere else or they might fall into despair and give up hope.
Entry # 2
“All of their troubles suddenly seemed to disappear, for now they could see with their own eyes what they had only dreamed about for months, sometimes years. From two thousand feet above sea level they saw a vast stretch of orchards, endless fields of grapes, cotton, and tomatoes, and as far as they eye could see in any direction, green- so much green it was hard to believe after life in the Panhandle”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 22
The image that this quote creates in my head reminds me of the story in the Bible when the Israelites finally got to the promised land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. Like the people in the Dust Bowl, the Israelites were living in desert conditions for so long. I think the feelings of joy and amazement were the same for the Okies at the mountaintop as the Israelites when they saw the promised land. The Okies must have felt overjoyed at that sight believing that they could have a new life full of promise in California. (Unfortunately for the Okies, the amazing view from the Tehachapi Mountains gave a false sense of hope because there were too many workers and not enough jobs in California.)
Entry # 3
“One woman screamed, “There’s more darn ‘Okies’ in California than white people,” while a local newspaper, the Kern Harald, alarmed readers with the headline MIGRANT HORDE INVADES KERN.”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 34
It is very surprising to me that a California woman would exclude people from Oklahoma from the white race. The people from Oklahoma probably would have looked just like the people from California if they had access to nice clothes. This just goes to show how people like to find reasons to discriminate against others even if the reasons are not logical.
Out of the Dust Reflection
I really enjoyed reading Out of the Dust. I was surprised that the free verse format was so easy for me to read. This book brought out a lot of emotions for me and really allowed me to relate to Billie Jo, a character who could be hard to relate to because of the time in which she lives. It made me so sad when Billie Jo couldn't play the piano anymore because of the pain in her hands. It was tragic that her one joy in life was taken away from her at the same time as her mother and baby brother's deaths. I was relieved that the relationship with her father was restored at the end of the story. They went through so much hardship together so I thought it was fitting that they came together in the end. I would definitely consider reading this book in a 4th or 5th grade class, depending on the maturity of the students. It could be read as a read aloud or as an option in Literary Circles. This book could be used to discuss the historical time period of the dust bowl and also the concepts of dealing with loss and hardship.
March 1935
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt,
I am sorry to be writing this letter to you because I know that you are a very busy and important woman, but I have a very important request. My name is Billie Jo and I am 14 years old. I am a long-legged, freckle-faced, narrow-hipped girl. Eight months ago there was a terrible accident and my hands were burned and my pregnant ma was horribly injured. She and my baby brother died. I named my baby brother Franklin after your husband. Now it is just my Daddy and I trying to make it by. I used to be good at piano, but now it hurts too bad to play. Please, if there is any way could you send something to ease the pain in my hands so that I can play piano again? Sometimes, I just sit at the piano and play songs in my head. If only I could play again, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. I have heard that you are a very compassionate woman and that you will help those in need. If you help me, I promise to play a concert for you whenever you want. Like I said, I used to be very good. Thank you. I will be waiting hopefully.
-Billie Jo
I Poem
I am my father’s daughter
I hear him singing under his breath
I wonder if things will ever be the same again
I practice piano in my head because my hands hurt too much to play
I see dust everywhere
I just want to get away- out of the dust
I worry because my father won’t go to the doctor for the spots on his skin
I wish Doc could fix him and maybe do something about my hands
I was invited to play at graduation
I couldn’t play
I let them down
I didn’t cry
I am too stubborn
Double Entry Journal
Entry # 1
“California! California! California! To the Okies the word “California” was magical, describing a place where they could go to better their lives. It was said that thousands of workers were needed to harvest a hundred different crops- peaches, pears, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, apples, oranges- the list seemed endless. It was said that no one ever went hungry in California because lush orchards were everywhere and people just helped themselves to whatever fruits or vegetables they wanted. It was said that no one ever got sick out there, ever, and it was big news if anyone died in California before their 200th birthday!”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 11
It seems ridiculous that people would really believe that people could live to be 200 in California! I think this quote shows how desperate the people in the Dust Bowl felt. They were willing to believe anything because they needed something to hope for in order to keep them going. They needed to believe that they could survive and find work somewhere else or they might fall into despair and give up hope.
Entry # 2
“All of their troubles suddenly seemed to disappear, for now they could see with their own eyes what they had only dreamed about for months, sometimes years. From two thousand feet above sea level they saw a vast stretch of orchards, endless fields of grapes, cotton, and tomatoes, and as far as they eye could see in any direction, green- so much green it was hard to believe after life in the Panhandle”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 22
The image that this quote creates in my head reminds me of the story in the Bible when the Israelites finally got to the promised land after wandering in the desert for 40 years. Like the people in the Dust Bowl, the Israelites were living in desert conditions for so long. I think the feelings of joy and amazement were the same for the Okies at the mountaintop as the Israelites when they saw the promised land. The Okies must have felt overjoyed at that sight believing that they could have a new life full of promise in California. (Unfortunately for the Okies, the amazing view from the Tehachapi Mountains gave a false sense of hope because there were too many workers and not enough jobs in California.)
Entry # 3
“One woman screamed, “There’s more darn ‘Okies’ in California than white people,” while a local newspaper, the Kern Harald, alarmed readers with the headline MIGRANT HORDE INVADES KERN.”
-Children of the Dust Bowl, page 34
It is very surprising to me that a California woman would exclude people from Oklahoma from the white race. The people from Oklahoma probably would have looked just like the people from California if they had access to nice clothes. This just goes to show how people like to find reasons to discriminate against others even if the reasons are not logical.
Out of the Dust Reflection
I really enjoyed reading Out of the Dust. I was surprised that the free verse format was so easy for me to read. This book brought out a lot of emotions for me and really allowed me to relate to Billie Jo, a character who could be hard to relate to because of the time in which she lives. It made me so sad when Billie Jo couldn't play the piano anymore because of the pain in her hands. It was tragic that her one joy in life was taken away from her at the same time as her mother and baby brother's deaths. I was relieved that the relationship with her father was restored at the end of the story. They went through so much hardship together so I thought it was fitting that they came together in the end. I would definitely consider reading this book in a 4th or 5th grade class, depending on the maturity of the students. It could be read as a read aloud or as an option in Literary Circles. This book could be used to discuss the historical time period of the dust bowl and also the concepts of dealing with loss and hardship.
